Chemical Weapons: A Deadly History

April 22, 2018

On this day in 1915, a stiff wind outside of Ypres helped loose the first systematic poison-gas attack in history.

by

Wojtek Grojec

and

Carlos Coelho

By Wojtek Grojec and Carlos Coelho

On a sunny afternoon in April 1915, outside the Belgian city of Ypres, the wind began blowing in the direction the German troops wanted – toward the French lines. German soldiers set up over 5,000 barrels of chlorine gas along their position, and let loose a rolling cloud of thick, yellow death. More than 6,000 French troops died in what was the first systematic use of poison gas on the battlefield. Its effectiveness caught even the Germans off guard. Willi Siebert, a German soldier, noted in his diary, “When we got to the French lines, the trenches were empty, but in a half mile the bodies of French soldiers were everywhere. It was unbelievable.” Just over 99 years later, on June 17, 2014, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) confirmed chlorine gas was used by the Syrian government in an attack on its own people.

German soldiers ignite chlorine gas canisters during the Second Battle of Ypres in Belgium on April 22, 1915. Getty / Hulton Archive

Origins And Evolution

In 1918, a German chemist named Fritz Haber won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for a method of extracting ammonia from the nitrogen in the atmosphere. The process made ammonia abundant and easily available. Haber’s discovery revolutionized agriculture, with some calling it the most significant technological discovery of the 20th century – supporting half of the world’s food base.

Fritz Haber is known as "the father of chemical warfare."Carlos Coelho / RFE/RLFritz Haber is known as "the father of chemical warfare."Carlos Coelho / RFE/RL

Haber was also a staunch German patriot who quickly joined the war effort at the outbreak of World War I. He was insistent on using weaponized gases, despite objections from some army commanders about their brutality, and treaties prohibiting their use. He personally oversaw the first use of chlorine gas at the front lines at Ypres. The next morning, he set out for the eastern front to deploy gas against the Russian army.

Chemical weapons quickly became a mainstay of warfare, public condemnation notwithstanding. They were employed by the militaries of Italy, Russia, Spain, and Japan, among others.

Timeline: Chemical Weapons Use

1988

Iraq launches a poison-gas attack on its own city of Halabja, killing up to 5,000 Kurds, most of them civilians.

2012-18

Chemical weapons repeatedly strike rebel-held areas during Syria's civil war in attacks that Western governments blame on the Syrian government.

1935

Italy uses mustard gas during its invasion of Ethiopia.

22 April 1915

Some 168 tons of chlorine gas is released near Ypres, Belgium, by German troops against the French.

1962-71

The United States uses herbicides, including Agent Orange, and tear gas in Vietnam.

1995

The Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult launches a sarin attack on the Tokyo subway.

1917

Mustard gas is first introduced, by German forces, prior to the Third Battle at Ypres.

Countries agree to ban the use of projectiles to diffuse "asphyxiating or deleterious gases."

2013

Russia mediates a deal to have Syria eliminate its chemical-weapons stockpiles

1992

Chemical Weapons Convention

The Chemical Weapons Convention is presented to the United Nations. It prohibits the development, production, stockpiling, transfer, or use of chemical weapons and requires signatories to destroy chemical weapon stockpiles. OPCW formed.

1925

The Geneva Protocol

The Geneva Protocol prohibits the use in war of asphyxiating, poisonous, or other gases, and of bacteriological warfare.

1899

The Hague Convention

Countries agree to ban the use of projectiles to diffuse "asphyxiating or deleterious gases."

1900

1910

22 April 1915

Some 168 tons of chlorine gas is released near Ypres, Belgium, by German troops against the French.

July 1917

Mustard gas is first introduced by the Germans, prior to the third battle at Ypres.

1920

1925

The Geneva Protocol

The Geneva Protocol prohibits the use in war of asphyxiating, poisonous, or other gases, and of bacteriological warfare.

1930

1935

Italy uses mustard gas during its invasion of Ethiopia.

1937-45

Japan uses a number of poisonous gases in China.

1950

1960

1962-71

The United States uses herbicides, including Agent Orange, and tear gas in Vietnam.

Iraq launches a poison-gas attack on its own city of Halabja, killing up to 5,000 Kurds, most of them civilians.

1992

Chemical Weapons Convention

The Chemical Weapons Convention is presented to the United Nations. It prohibits the development, production, stockpiling, transfer, or use of chemical weapons and requires signatories to destroy chemical weapon stockpiles. OPCW formed.

1990

2000

1995

The Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult launches a sarin attack on the Tokyo subway.

2010

2012-18

Chemical weapons repeatedly strike rebel-held areas during Syria's civil war in attacks that Western governments blame on the Syrian government.

During the Cold War, the United States and the U.S.S.R. made major advances in chemical-weapons technology. Their breakthroughs were accompanied by innovations in nuclear-weapons technology. It was during this period that the third generation of chemical weapons was invented: nerve agents.

Within a century of their devastating debut at Ypres, chemical weapons have increased in lethality a thousandfold.

“Tabun,” the first nerve agent, was invented in the 1930s by German chemist Gerhard Schrader.

First used in a military setting in Syria, in 2013

Examples

Novichok, sarin, VX

Lethality

Research into chemical weapons has resulted in a thousandfold increase in lethality in less than a century. This chart compares the minimum concentrations of various chemical weapons for a lethal dose.

Median lethal concentration, milligrams per cubic meter (LDt50)

Phosgene

3,200

Sulfur mustard

1,000

Sarin: 35

VX: 15

Chlorine

10,000

Tabun: 70

Hydrogen cyanide

2,500

USE IN SYRIA'S CIVIL WAR

TYPES OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS USED

The OPCW, the United Nations, and Human Rights Watch have confirmed that chemical weapons were used at least 34 times during Syria's civil war. A UN investigation into a chemical attack on August 21, 2013, in and around the Ghouta area found that the nerve agent sarin was used on several occasions. The sarin was likely delivered via surface-to-surface rockets, like the 140mm and 330mm ones pictured below. The Syrian government has also been accused of using chlorine gas as a weapon on numerous occasions, usually released via barrel bombing.

330 mm rocket

Warhead with a capacity of 50-60 liters.

140 mm rocket

Warhead containing 2.2 kg of sarin.

Barrel bomb

Varies in size as they can be made from oil barrels, fuel tanks, or gas canisters.

Motor

Stabilizing fins

Impact fuse

LOCATIONS OF CONFIRMED CHEMICAL ATTACKS

Sheikh Maqsood

Aleppo

Raqqa

Saraqib

Kafr Zeita

Tamana

SYRIA

Deir-al-Zour

Khan Sheikhoun

Homs

Palmyra

Douma

Damascus

FATALITIES FROM CHEMICAL WEAPONS

At least 1,283 people have been killed by chemical attacks in Syria, according to the Violations Documentation Center.

2018-04-07

85 dead

2013-08-21

924 dead

2017-04-15

89 dead

2016-12-12

33 dead

2013

2014

2015

2016

2018

Sarin

Chlorine

Not specified

Sources

Organization For The Prohibition Of Chemical Weapons (background, locations, types of weapons, stockpiles, number of weapons destroyed)

United Nations Human Rights Council (Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic)